Fiber optic substrates can be made into illuminators by marring or abrading (hereinafter collectively referred to as “marring”) the surface of the optical fibers at various points along their length to cause a portion of the light entering one or both ends of the optical fibers to be emitted from the marred surface areas. Such illuminators may be used for example for display lighting, background lighting, front lighting and/or ornamental lighting and the like.
Increased surface marring results in increased light emission. Accordingly, the intensity of the light emitted along the length of the substrates can be varied by varying the density or aggressiveness of the surface marring.
It is generally known to mar fiber optic substrates by stamping, machining, molding, sandblasting or rolling fiber optic substrates to create a desired marring pattern on a surface of the substrates. However, there is a continuing need for other effective methods and systems for marring fiber optic substrates to create fiber optic illuminators having a desired illumination pattern.